Cup Win Makes For Good Start

It’s an unfamiliar way to start the season but in any case, West Ham United are through to the second-round of the Carabao Cup after they came from a goal behind to beat fellow Sky Bet Championship outfit Portsmouth 3-1 in Stratford on Saturday afternoon.

In his pre-match news conference ahead of this game on Friday, Head-Coach Nuno Espírito Santo stated that his team for this game would include a blend of youth and experience and he was true to his word, as Max Kilman, Edson Álvarez, Oliver Scarles, Lewis Orford and Mohamadou Kanté all started. New signing Joël Veltman was included in the matchday squad, as were youngsters Joshua Ajala, Airidas Golambeckis, Ezra Mayers, Kaelan Casey and George Earthy.

Both sides were welcomed onto the pitch by the 53,369 record attendance. However, the majority will not have been pleased with their team’s start to the encounter, as the visitors had some decent opportunities in the opening stages. They tested Mads Hermansen in the home side’s goal far more than Espírito Santo’s men had worked visiting goalkeeper Nicholas Schmid.

The only time that the home side created anything before they equalised just two minutes before the break was when captain Jarrod Bowen’s corner was met by Álvarez but unfortunately, the Mexican’s header was no trouble.

Up the other end, the Dane was fortunately able to resist everything that the opponents were throwing at him. That was until the thirty third minute when he was powerless to prevent an Adrian Segečić shot going past him, via deflection off Kilman. That sent shock waves reverberating around the stadium.

The Hammers weren’t so far showing the level of performance that their ever-loyal fan base were either expecting or, knew they were capable of. John Mousinho’s men were guilty of not capitalising on a decent opportunity to increase their advantage. Debutant Rocco Shein’s initial shot wasn’t properly dealt with by Hermansen but, he made amends and gathered the ball at the second attempt.

The South Coast side were then made to pay, as both Orford and Scarles linked up well to play in Kanté. The Frenchman used his pace to evade the attentions of both Regan Poole and Terry Devlin and pick out Valentín Castellanos for the Argentine to leave Schmid helpless.

Two minutes later, the home side had completely turned the game on its head, as Schmid was beaten again when Bowen netted, following great play from both Scarles and Pablo Felipe. However, just as Pompey did for the opener, the home side benefited from a deflection. Conor Shaughnessy was the unfortunate man on this occasion, as the Stratford faithful went wild.

Felipe is yet to open his account for the Irons since his January move and he tried his luck here. However, the wait goes on as Schmid came to his team’s rescue.

Espírito Santo might have delivered a very different half-time team talk had the scoreline not changed but at least they were in front when referee Adam Herczeg blew his whistle.

The second-half had barely settled into a rhythm before the East Londoners had booked their place in the draw for the next stage. Kyle Walker-Peters set up the skipper who was in plenty of space and it was left to the former Hull City winger to cross the ball into the box. Castellanos ended the move by sending the ball into the net.

It seemed like the job had been done. That being said though, Segečić still had chances to pull a goal back but thankfully, there was no way through. Despite Mousinho throwing on several substitutes, his side didn’t appear to have an answer to West Ham’s superiority.

Espírito Santo introduced both El Hadji Malick Diouf and James Ward-Prowse to take the places of Álvarez and Kanté.

Felipe had another opportunity to claim his first goal for the club when he tested Schmid but, the stopper denied him once again, before the goalkeeper was given even more work to do, as Bowen and Walker-Peters went close.

Both Veltman and Ajala got their first tastes of first-team action for the club as Bowen and Castellanos were the players to make way.

Eight minutes of stoppage time were added but, in the end, the home side would have been pleased with their overall performance going into their season opener at Burnley next Sunday.

Espírito Santo will almost certainly have reinforcements available in time to face the Clarets at Turf Moor. As always, news on any developments in the transfer market, as well as details of the second-round draw will appear here as soon as they are announced.